Friday, June 23rd

Our breakfast was lovely…eggs over-easy, toast, tomatoes, bacon & sausage served in the cozy dining area next to Kate’s (our host) kitchen!  We spent time last night with Kate’s husband and his mates in Brosnan’s bar run by our hosts.  While we like to think we understood all they said, I believe we missed most of the Gaelic (the official language of Ireland).  Assuming we got it right, they said years ago one could drive legal after 7 pints!!  Wow, especially on their narrow roads!!  We were greeted outside with a drizzly morning (more typical for this area than the last two days…very welcome for the locals since they hadn’t had rain in 5 weeks), which lasted all day & night!  Just over the bridge, we met up with the Seattleites and walked to Minard Castle and the storm beach at its base.  We enjoyed spending time with Carolyn, Mary Kay & Leslie from Seattle!  The trail meandered up and down for miles through thickets of blackberry bushes, pink & red fuscia, ferns, tall grasses and small trees.  When Carolyn & I missed the sign post and found ourselves at the beach, Larry came to the rescue!  Miles later, Carolyn received a text from the rest of the group that we also missed the sign to Lispole, to which we backtracked and met the others for a drink and bite to eat at the shop & petrol station!  Walking out of the village, we were joined by a local jogger who proudly told us about his son, the current Irish shot putt champion, from Lispole!  The trail took a turn across numerous pastures dotted with sheep made quite slippery by the recent rains and sheep’s splatters!  Given the heavy mist & intermittent rain, a local farmer advised us to depart from the Dingle Way and walk the road into Dingle, which we did!  Although not as busy as N86, the road still had traffic we had to avoid.  Once in Dingle, we checked into our hotel, The Waterfront, which had a lovely view from our room of the Marina.  After freshening up, we had drinks at Dick Mack’s Brewery, listened to live music at the Dingle Pub and had a delicious seafood platter at the Boatyard, just steps from our hotel!